Team Seven: Triple Threat
by KellyKatt19
Summary: How will Naruto have changed if the last four years of his life were infinitely different from canon? If he wasn't so lonely or neglected? How will a different Naruto and not-so-lazy Kakashi-sensei affect the outcome of Team Seven? Warnings: Lots of OCs. No pairings as of yet. Eventual divergence from canon.
1. Chapter 1: Team Seven

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor any recognisable characters. - Apply to every chapter, 'cause it's not likely to appear again. **

**AN: Er, this is AU. Will follow canon for a bit, with a few differences, but will eventually divert. If you don't like OCs, this is not the fic for you, as there are quite a lot in this story.**

**Regarding pairings, as I said in the summary, there are none planned as of yet. However, if I do, it will likely be NaruSasuSaku (sorry, they're my OT3 for life). For Team Seven, it's either that or no romance at all, because I'm not planning on placing Kakashi with any of my OCs.**

**Be nice, please? **

* * *

Kakashi gazed dispassionately down at the little brats he'd been given, not saying a word. When they started showing signs of discomfort and impatience, he eye-smiled at them and clapped his hands together. "Introductions! Pinky, you go first – name, likes, dislikes, hobbies and dreams or goals for the future."

The little kunoichi looked up at him with wide eyes, before glancing at the two boys that made up the rest of her team.

"We-ell, my name is Haruno Sakura, I like-" Cue giggles and blushing, with sidelong glances at the scowling Uchiha. Kakashi sighed to himself. Great. He had a fangirl as well as the object of her obsession. "I dislike Ino-pig!" This was said with a surprising vehemence. "My hobbies are reading and…" Another giggle fit. Oh wow. She counted stalking as a hobby. "And my dream for the future is…" More sideways looks and blushing. The girl's file said she had shinobi parents, but right now she was acting more like a civilian born wannabe kunoichi.

"Well that was… Informative." Kakashi drawled. He revelled in the dark flush that covered the girl's face, a mix of offended feminine fury and embarrassment. "You're up next, Duckling."

The last – loyal – Uchiha scowled even more heavily, much to Kakashi's amusement. The boy really needed to relax. Maybe a good dose of Icha Icha would loosen him up.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. My likes are few and my dislikes are many-" this said with a pointed glance in the direction of his female teammate, which she blithely ignored. "I have no hobbies, I train so that I can reach my goal, my ambition; to kill a certain man, and revive my clan."

The three males determinedly ignored the squeals of hero-worship and ecstasy that erupted from the pink haired girl. Kakashi stared thoughtfully – and not without worry – at the young avenger. The darkness and anger that the young boy was emanating was very troubling. But, that would have to wait until later; they still had to pass his test.

"Alright then, that just leaves you, Sunshine."

The blond boy who looked painfully like his dearly departed sensei grinned widely. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, dattebayo! I like ramen, especially from Ichiraku. I like spending time with my neechans and the gakis, and all the others. I dislike waiting for my ramen to cook, and jiji's secretary and people who disrespect me and my neechans! My hobbies are training, pranking and, er…" A light blush darkened his cheeks, causing Kakashi's curiosity to skyrocket. Something to look into? "Well I have a lot of hobbies. My three goals, -ttebayo, are to repay the neechans for everything they've done for me, make sure my gakis all grow up and have good lives, and to become a great ninja so I can become Hokage!" The last was said in a determined shout.

Sasuke scoffed and Sakura growled, but all Kakashi could think of was a certain red-haired woman ranting about how if she couldn't be Hokage, she was 'damn well going to marry the next one, dattebane!' The boy may look like his father, but his personality was all Uzumaki.

"What about you sensei?"

Huh? Oh right. He smiled down at the spiky blond head. "Since you asked so nicely, my name is Hatake Kakashi. My likes-" he held up the infamous orange book. "Are not for the ears of children, nor are my dislikes. Hobbies… I have a lot of those. My dreams… are none of your business."

Kakashi smirked at Sasuke's face fault and Sakura's indignant shriek of "We only get his name?!" However, he was unprepared for Naruto's finger pointed accusingly at his face. "Pervert! Those are hentai books!"

Ignoring the shocked and blushing faces of the other two pre-genin and the slight surprise (alright, maybe a little pride) he felt knowing that Naruto knew what Icha Icha was, Kakashi raised a single eyebrow at his sensei's son.

"And how, Naruto-kun," he drawled lazily, "Do you know that?" An evil chuckle reverberated around his brain as he heard Sakura's enraged shouting ("Naruto-baka!"). The jinchūriki's cheeks turned red at the insinuation.

"I haven't read them, hentai-sensei! Megumi-nee told me what they are, and who wrote them! Perverted old man." Naruto scowled comically, eyes squinting and cheeks puffing up.

Kakashi laughed gently. Jiraiya tended to leave that impression on women. It seemed little Naruto was protective of his neechans' honour, whoever they were. How cute. And just as fiery as Kushina-nee.

"As much as I enjoy it, enough hentai-talk." Ah, the little genin were blushing. The joys of being a preteen. "I expect the three of you to be at training ground three at exactly seven am tomorrow morning for your final test." Wait for it…

"What!"

"But sensei!"

"Hn."

"Hm? Did you have a question?" He smirked to himself. Being Gai's Eternal Rival was good for one thing at least.

"Sensei," Sakura spoke up. "Didn't we already pass the genin test?"

"Ah, actually, all the jōnin sensei give their team one last test, to see if they have what it takes to be a shinobi of Konoha. If you pass, you become official Konoha genin. If you fail," he smiled cheerily at them. "It's back to the academy for another year!"

Aw, the expressions on their faces warmed his heart. This was the reason he didn't make more of a fuss when Sarutobi-sama forced him to take another team. And hey, he didn't even mind that he'd (practically) been ordered to actually pass this team. They promised much future amusement for him.

Kakashi watched the determination settle on three little faces and had to supress a smile. No, he did not mind at all.

* * *

Sasuke fought a snarl as he found himself buried up to the neck in dirt. The Hatake bastard just stood there, not even looking at him, reading his – if the dobe was correct – hentai. He had been so close! He knew that he'd felt his fingertip graze one of the bells. He tried, futilely, to wiggle his way up out of the ground, feeling completely humiliated as he did so. He was sure that he looked an absolute fool. If the dobe saw him like this!

Sasuke heard Sakura's distressed "Sasuke-kun!" at the exact moment the alarm clock went off. He growled under his breath. Great. Having one of his fangirls help him was even more humiliating. He'd rather have the dobe.

* * *

Kakashi smirked under his mask at the downtrodden genin hopefuls. Sasuke was sitting cross legged in front of the posts, determinedly not looking at anybody and ignoring the fact that he was covered in dirt. Naruto was sprawled on his back, jumpsuit gone (hanging out to dry in a nearby tree), surprisingly relaxed in his boxers and singlet. Sakura… Kakashi let his smirk widen. Sakura was tied to a post in between the boys, and not looking very happy about it either. "Looks like Sakura-chan isn't getting any lunch today!" He announced sunnily. "Does anybody know why that is?"

The three genin shook their heads.

"Because Sakura-chan was the furthest away from passing of course!"

Her face fell. Of course, he felt no pity for her, seeing as she fainted from a weak, genin-level genjutsu featuring an injured Sasuke. Rin, even when she'd been more obvious about her attraction to him, had always put being a kunoichi and a medic first. The usual pang of loss and grief and guilt assaulted his heart at the thought of Rin. Kind, sweet Rin.

"Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto's voice broke his thoughts. "What about me and teme? How close were we?"

Sasuke's head shot up and he stared intently at the jōnin.

"Well, the both of you managed to touch one of the bells, but I'd say Naruto was the closest to passing."

The jinchūriki beamed up at him and the Uchiha glared. "Really, sensei?"

Kakashi smiled, his one eye slipping shut to block out the painful image of Minato-sensei and Kushina-nee superimposed over their son's face. "Really, Naruto-kun."

"WHOO! I'm awesome dattebayo!"

He gazed fondly at the exuberant Uzumaki. Kakashi hated to burst his bubble, but…

"You were the closest to passing, but none of you actually passed, Naruto-kun."

Naruto's face fell, and Kakashi almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

"But!" Kakashi supressed a cackle at the hopeful puppy looks the genin were sending him. "Since two of you worked so hard to get the bells, I'm going to give you all another shot after lunch. Try to figure out why Naruto was the closest, and don't give Sakura-chan any food!" He eye-smiled at them and disappeared in a burst of chakra smoke. His dramatic exits were so much better than Gai's dynamic entries. When they were actual entries, that is. The taijutsu move was, admittedly, pretty cool.

Kakashi quickly perched himself in a nearby tree and cloaked his presence as well as he could. Probably overkill, but better safe than sorry.

He settled in to watch his genin, hoping against hope that they would understand the point of the exercise. Kakashi might have been ordered to pass this cell, but by Kami they were going to earn it!

* * *

Sakura shifted uncomfortably against the post she was tied to. It wasn't fair! Kakashi-sensei had used her eternal undying love for Sasuke-kun against her! Clearly the one-eyed jōnin was single, because he just didn't understand how traumatising it was to see the love of your life in such a state. How was she supposed to concentrate on passing a silly test when Sasuke-kun was hurt like that?

'True love will conquer all!' Inner Sakura declared. 'We're gonna figure out how Naruto-baka beat Sasuke-kun and then we'll get the bells and then Sasuke-kun will fall in love with us and we'll live happily ever after!'

"SHANNARO!" Sakura yelled, oblivious to the fact that she'd done so out loud, and was currently straining at the ropes binding her in her efforts to raise her fists triumphantly. In her state, Sakura also missed the wary looks her male teammates were sending her.

"So, er, Naruto," Sakura said, going back to her normal sweet self. "What exactly did you do when you attacked Kakashi-sensei? We need to find out what you did to get so close to passing."

Naruto frowned thoughtfully. "Well, I made a whole bunch of kage bunshin to distract him, and teamed up with more of my kage bunshin to grab the bells, but that pervert is really good! He took all of us out really easily!"

Sakura sighed. So much for that. "Naruto-baka, of course it was easy, bunshin are just illusions. No matter how many you made, they wouldn't be able to actually touch him anyway."

The blond scowled at her. "I'm not stupid! I do know what bunshin are, y'know. I can't make any of the fuckin' things. I said _kage_ bunshin. They're solid!"

"I've never heard of solid clones that aren't elemental." Sasuke-kun said with a faint scowl.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Another Naruto popped into being and promptly brought its fist down on Sasuke's head before dispelling with a snicker.

"NARUTOOO!" Sakura roared in a rage. "Don't hit Sasuke-kun! Wait…" Sakura trailed off. "You hit Sasuke-kun!"

"Er, I think we got that, funnily enough." Naruto said sarcastically. Even Sasuke was looking at her with a raised brow (KYAAAHHH! SO CUUUUTE!).

"No, I mean you were right! Your bunshin are solid! Okay, so Naruto had solid clones to help him out… That's related to why he came the closest to passing, I'm sure of it!" Sakura sat tied to her post, muttering to herself, while the boys traded glances, clearly questioning the sanity of their female teammate.

"Y'mean 'cause I had other people to work with and you two had to do it on your own?" Naruto's question broke into Sakura's feverish muttering and her head shot up.

"That's it! You worked in a team! Naruto was the closest because he had teammates to help him, even if they were actually still him. Genin cells are always made up of three people plus their jōnin sensei. He's trying to see if we can work together – the number of bells don't matter! Either we all pass or we all fail." Sakura proudly beamed up at the two boys, who were looking pretty impressed. Well, Naruto did, but at least Sasuke-kun acknowledged her! Kyaaah! He would fall for her in no time!

"So we all need to work together to try and get the bells. Are you sure he's not going to send one of us back to the academy?" Naruto asked.

I'm sure." Sakura said confidently. "A-and if I'm wrong," oh Kami please don't be wrong. "Then you two can have the bells." She nearly screamed at the thought of giving up her place at Sasuke-kun's side to the blond prankster, but it would only be fair if it turned out she'd given them false information.

"Are you sure?" Naruto was watching her closely.

Sakura smiled as best she could. "Positive."

"Well alright then! If we're all gonna attack him together, you're gonna need all your strength!" And with that, Naruto cheerfully sliced the ropes holding her with a kunai, and handed her his bento.

"Wha-?" Sakura gaped at him. "But sensei told you not to give me any food! And aren't you hungry anyway?"

Right on cue Naruto's stomach growled.

Sasuke-kun sighed. "If I need you two to pass this test, I guess the dobe can have my lunch, and you can have his. You definitely need it more than we do."

Sakura gazed at Sasuke in awe. He was so smart and amazing.

"Aw, thanks teme, but I can go hungry much longer than you two can. I don't like it, but I can go without food for a while longer. Give your bento to Sakura, and you can have mine." The blond boy smiled.

Though her stomach was screaming at her not to do it, Sakura handed Naruto back his bento. "No, it's alright Naruto. You and Sasuke-kun are the heavy-hitters in this team anyway, you need the energy more than I do. Besides," she smiled weakly. "I'm on a diet."

* * *

Kakashi smiled to himself as he watched his students from his spot in the tree. They definitely caught on quicker than he expected. And it looked like he didn't even need to give them the bell-test again either. They were already trying to help each other to work as a team! Time for his own dynamic entry.

With a small burst of chakra and the accompanying smoke, Kakashi appeared in front of the three genin, receiving shocked, shifty looks.

"You three," he drew himself up to his full height and loomed over them, glaring with his one visible eye. "Pass!" He smiled cheerfully.

Kakashi savoured the incomprehension that covered the kids' faces. He really did love messing with people.

"What?!" Naruto was screaming. "How?! Why?!"

Sakura and Sasuke were also staring, prompting him to answer the blond's questions.

"Sakura-chan was right. The purpose of this exercise was to see if you three could work together as a team, and you proved that you have the potential when you all tried to look out for each other by sacrificing your own chance for lunch. In Konoha, teamwork is a very important aspect of shinobi life. Remember, those who abandon the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash." A lesson that he learned far too late, and at too great a price.

Still, seeing Naruto and Sakura nod determinedly and Sasuke thoughtfully, Kakashi couldn't dwell on bad memories. His little genin were just so cute!

* * *

**AN: So how was that? I also have most of the second and third chapters of this fic written, so they will be updated at some point. Likely not on any kind of schedule. **

**\- Kelly**


	2. Chapter 2: First Missions

**AN: Thank you for your faves/follows/reviews! **

* * *

The morning after Team Seven officially became Team Seven, Sakura was the first one waiting at the bridge Kakashi-sensei had told them to meet at. She was nearly giddy with excitement. She was on a team with Sasuke-kun! Take that Ino-pig! Sakura would definitely win Sasuke-kun's heart now!

When Sasuke himself showed up a few minutes later, Sakura nearly keeled over. He looked so good! So strong, and cool. He just made everything seem so effortless. She spent the next ten minutes trying to make conversation and swooning over every "Hn" Sasuke uttered.

When Naruto showed up, Sakura nearly keeled over again, this time from shock. It was gone. That ugly orange eye-sore of a jumpsuit was gone! Instead, the blond was wearing black shinobi pants taped at the ankles and a zippered black armoured vest that bore resemblance to the typical shinobi flak jackets. An orange hood was poking out at the back, an orange strip was emerging from below his vest that Sakura assumed was a shirt or singlet of some sort, and orange bands were wrapped around his wrists. He actually looked… pretty good. And wasn't that a shocking thought.

"Naruto?! What are you wearing?!" Sakura demanded once he was in hearing range. Even Sasuke-kun looked interested.

He grinned sheepishly and rubbed a hand through his wild hair. "Do ya like it? I promised my neechans ages ago that once I made genin, I would let them buy me new clothes. They did pretty good, huh?"

"I'll say," Sakura agreed. "But you just couldn't let the orange go, could you?"

"Hey!" Naruto pouted indignantly. "Orange is an awesome colour!"

"Orange is not a suitable shinobi colour, dobe." Sasuke broke in.

Naruto scowled. "If I can hide from the academy chūnin in my jumpsuit, I can wear this, teme."

"Don't insult Sasuke-kun!" Sakura's fist came down on the blond head.

"Ow," Naruto whined, clutching at his head. "That was mean, Sakura-chan!"

She scowled and hit him again. "Don't act so familiarly!"

"But we're a team now! And I'm gonna call you Sakura-chan!" Naruto said stubbornly, with that familiar bull-headed look on his face that he got whenever Iruka-sensei told him off for his pranks. At that point, Sakura knew she wouldn't get anywhere so she just sighed resignedly and leaned back against the railing.

"Do you think Kakashi-sensei will be as late as he was the last two days?" Sakura asked the world in general.

Sasuke gave a disdainful sniff – so COOL! – But otherwise didn't say anything. Sakura sighed dreamily. Naruto scrunched his face up and nodded.

"If he's gonna be three hours late every day, I'm not gonna wait for him here doing nothing." And with that he leaped up so that he was crouched on the bridge railing and pushed himself into a handstand.

Sakura gaped at him; firstly because he was perfectly balanced on his hands, body held up in a perfectly straight line. Secondly, because in that brief moment of effort, hoisting himself up and pushing so that his arms were straight, previously unnoticed muscles had bulged out and almost made Sakura drool before she remembered who she was looking at. She determinedly ignored Inner-Sakura, who was shouting about stupid ugly misleading orange jumpsuits, conveniently forgetting that Naruto had stripped out of said jumpsuit yesterday afternoon after Kakashi-sensei threw him in the stream.

"What are you doing, Naruto?" Sakura asked him.

He gave her an upside down grin from his place atop the railing. "I'm practising! I've been trying to figure out how to improve my balance on my hands for ages." He paused sheepishly as she wondered why he needed to improve – he looked in perfect form to her. "I never even thought of using a railing. Dumb of me, I could've just used the stair rail at home." And with that he started slowly moving one hand in front of the other, walking along the rail on his hands. Sakura had to admit to being a bit jealous. It looked really cool from where she was standing, and those arms! She stopped herself before those thoughts spiralled out of control.

'Remember Sasuke-kun? The love of your life? With the perfect face and voice and hair…' Sakura snuck a look at the dark haired boy. During her conversation with Naruto, he'd moved to the centre of the bridge and sat down, calmly meditating. SO COOOOOL! And definitely more attractive, no matter how – wonderfully – muscled the blond's arms were.

* * *

Sasuke barely suppressed a growl when, three hours after he'd told them to meet up, Kakashi arrived at the bridge, hentai book out and eye smiling like he'd done nothing wrong.

"YOU'RE LATE!" Naruto and Sakura both screamed.

Kakashi raised a hand to his mask, humming a little. "Am I? I had to stop and help an old woman carry her shopping home."

Sasuke frown sceptically. Even Naruto and Sakura were exchanging looks. As if they could read each other's minds, they both pointed a finger at the jōnin accusingly. "YOU'RE LYING!"

Kakashi simply continued eye smiling, as if he'd done nothing wrong by leaving them to wait for a whole three hours. Bastard. How was he supposed to get strong enough to kill That Man if his jōnin-sensei was a habitually late, lazy bastard who was always reading porn?

"Maa, calm down kids. I was thinking maybe we'd do some training and then a mission, but how about we do the mission first, huh?" Sasuke decided right then and there that those eye smiles were going to give him a conniption one day. It was odd how much one face could convey when three-quarters of it was covered. And all Sasuke could see in that uncovered quarter was amusement. He hated being laughed at, as though he wasn't worth taking seriously.

Obviously, he didn't voice any of this. He did however, send an extra poisonous glare Kakashi's way before he stood up.

"A mission? Already? Awesome!" Naruto yelled, jumping up from his spot on the railing. He'd given up on the hand walking after a whole hour of practice (and where the hell did he learn how to do that anyway? That wasn't something they taught at the academy) and instead he chose to hang off the railing with his legs for half an hour, before pulling himself up and laying across the railing on his back. Sasuke didn't know if he'd been sleeping or what, but honestly he was unnerved by the lack of shouting from the blond. He'd always been a rather loud presence at the academy; he'd toned down the attention seeking behaviour after about a year and was simply an extremely rambunctious prankster, but he'd still always been noticeable. Even when Sasuke was newly back at the academy after That Night, he couldn't help but notice the blond boy. He was annoying and an idiot, but he'd never given Sasuke any pitying looks or anything, which Sasuke appreciated.

"Jiji!"

With surprise, Sasuke realised that they'd reached the Hokage Tower already, and the Hokage himself was sitting behind the mission desk that was usually manned by chūnin. And that Naruto had just called the most powerful ninja in the village 'Jiji'. Stupid dobe.

"Naruto!" Sakura screeched. "Be respectful to Hokage-sama!"

Sarutobi simply chuckled. "It's quite alright, Sakura-chan. Naruto-kun is irrepressible. In any case, I suppose you're here for a mission?" He peered questioningly at the three genin.

"You bet Jiji!"

"Maa, Naruto-kun, calm down." Sasuke had to smirk at the sulky pout on Naruto's face. Idiot.

"Team Seven requests one D-rank mission please, Hokage-sama." Kakashi drawled lazily.

"A D-rank hm? Well," he said, digging a small scroll out from the pile. "I think this one is a good choice for a first mission." Sarutobi handed the scroll over to Kakashi, who scanned it quickly before passing it on to Sakura with one of those stupid eye smiles.

Sasuke and Naruto quickly gathered around Sakura to read the scroll with her. Sasuke couldn't deny feeling a little excited; his first mission as an official shinobi of Konohagakure. That lasted until he read what was written on the scroll.

"GROCERY SHOPPING?! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS JIJI?! KAKASHI-SENSEI?!"

Somehow, the smirks on both Kakashi's and the Hokage's faces didn't make Sasuke feel any better.

* * *

Naruto scowled at his smiling sensei. That bastard! Tricking them like that, and Jiji too! Naruto just knew he was going to hate D-ranks.

They were now back at the training ground, after doing that crazy old woman's stupid grocery shopping. She'd taken one look at him and instantly gone all scowly and shit. It'd taken Kakashi-sensei's calm talking and Sakura-chan's cute little girl politeness to get her to pull the stick outta her ass and give them the kamidamned shopping list.

Bah. Stupid woman. Stupid fox. At least now he knew why most of the village hated him. Even if he thought they were dumb to treat him like shit – what if he really was the kyūbi and let loose one day? Wouldn't it have made more sense to _not_ make the gigantic yōko mad at you? – He couldn't blame them. The kyūbi took so much from this village in one night, they had a right to be angry. It sucked that they chose him to be their scapegoat, but he could handle it. He'd show them all one day. Uzumaki Naruto never backed down, and he always kept his promises! He would become Hokage and look after his village if he had to die doing it!

"Naruto!" Sakura's fist smashing into his head broke his completely awesome internal monologue. Rubbing the top of his head, Naruto thought she might've broken something else as well. The girl was crazy strong. "Have you been listening at all? Kakashi-sensei has another mission for us!"

"It's not more shopping is it?" Naruto asked warily.

The silver haired shinobi chuckled lightly. "No, Naruto-kun, nothing like that. This is a mission you'll be doing for me. You can think of it as training if you'd like."

That sounded suspicious to Naruto, but if his sensei said to do it, he'd have to do it. Of course, if it was something dumb, Kakashi would be feeling Naruto's wrath later.

The four of them sat in a circle in the middle of the training ground's large grassy area, Naruto sitting between Kakashi and Sasuke, with Sakura-chan opposite him. "Do you remember how I told you that Konoha values teamwork?" The three genin nodded. Kakashi continued; "I thought that you three might need to get to know each other a bit more, before you will be able to work effectively together."

"How are we going to do that, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked, eyes wide. Naruto guessed she was probably jumping inside at the chance to get to know Sasuke-kun better.

Their sensei's lone grey eye curved upwards in a smile. "To put it simply, you three will be stalking each other!"

"WHAT?!" Naruto and Sakura screamed simultaneously. Even Sasuke let out an emphatic "Hn!"

Eyeing Kakashi's much too cheerful face, Naruto decided his sensei was nuts. What the hell was that supposed to mean, they'd be stalking each other? That sounded like a really creepy way of getting to know someone. Why couldn't they just go out for food and ask retarded questions like normal people?

"Ano, Kakashi-sensei," the pinkette spoke up nervously. "What exactly do you mean?"

"I meant what I said, Sakura-chan. You three are going to take turns having your teammates follow you everywhere for twenty-four hours, observing you and your habits, routines, et cetera. This way, you can all get an idea of how each other works and also what kind of people you all are. I will also be observing you all at the same time."

"That… is really creepy, Kakashi-sensei." Naruto deadpanned. "So we all gotta follow each other home, and sleep there and shower there and everything?"

"Sounds about right." Kakashi shrugged. "I have to ask though, do any of you have the same basic routine on weekends as you do on weekdays? Or is one of you going to have to wait until Monday? We'll be having team training on Saturday afternoons too, if that helps."

Naruto shook his head. His weekend routine was almost the exact opposite of his weekday routine.

"Mine is similar enough," Sasuke's stupid monotone answered Kakashi-sensei. "I can go on Saturday."

"Thank you Sasuke-kun! That makes things easier. Okay, I'm going to send you three on your way in a minute. You need to pack for at least two days away from home. Sakura-chan, since you'll be going first, you just need to inform your parents that your team will be staying with you for the night."

Sakura-chan smiled and shook her head. "That's not necessary, Kakashi-sensei. Both my parents will be out on missions for the next few days. We'll have the house to ourselves."

Naruto squinted as he thought. Was that alright? Sakura-chan being all alone in a house with three guys? It wasn't like they would try anything, but still. Would her parents mind? Would she get in trouble when they got home? If they, as shinobi, let their daughter become a kunoichi, they obviously knew that Sakura-chan would eventually have to be alone with her cell at night…

Kakashi hmed, his thoughts unknowingly mirroring Naruto's. He wasn't exactly the most responsible person in Konoha, but even he knew it wouldn't be appropriate for a twelve year old to spend the night alone with three – relatively – unknown males. It was different for shinobi of course, but as they'd only been a team for one day, he thought there should probably be some sort of supervision. The problem was, he wasn't on good enough terms with any kunoichi – any female really – to ask them to have a sleepover with a notorious pervert and three children. Ah well, one problem at a time.

"Sakura-chan? Will your parents mind you having people over while they aren't around?"

Her little pink head tipped to the side in thought. "No, I don't think they'll mind, especially if it's my genin team."

"Ano, sensei," Naruto broke in. He really didn't think he'd be comfortable, at least this early on, with Sakura-chan being by herself with three stronger guys. She had a wicked punch, but still. It just didn't feel right in his mind.

"Yes, Naruto-kun?" Kakashi smiled kindly at the blond boy.

"Ano, do you think I could ask one of my neechans to stay with us? At Sakura-chan's, I mean. I dunno if they'd like me staying the night at a girl's house." No need to offend Sakura-chan by suggesting she was too delicate or some shit.

Kakashi smiled to himself. He was really starting to like that kid. "It's up to Sakura-chan, but I have no problems with it, Naruto-kun."

The three males looked Sakura's way. She blushed a little at the sudden attention, but considered Naruto's request. She wasn't stupid, she understood the real reason he'd asked, but she was far from offended. In fact, Sakura thought it was rather sweet that he cared about her honour like that. And really, her parents would probably prefer it if she had another, older, female in the house.

Sakura nodded, smiling brightly. "Sure thing, Naruto!"

"Well!" Kakashi clapped his hands. "Now that that's settled, you three go get ready for your mission, and then come back here. Sakura-chan's twenty-four hours will start as soon as team training does."

* * *

**AN: Mostly character development. More detailed action will come in later chapters :).**

**\- Kelly**


	3. Chapter 3: Sakura

**AN: Er... Sorry for the delay! I said I'm not a regular updater, but honestly didn't think it would take me this long to get this chapter up :/. Soz guys. **

**Also, this chapter is pretty introspective, just a warning. Character development and all that :). **

* * *

Sakura glared daggers at Kakashi-sensei from where she had collapsed against one of the large trees surrounding the large grassy training field. It was a different training ground than the one from yesterday, but it was pretty similar. There was a large grassy field, just without the memorial or the wooden posts. Trees framed the field on three sides, and a river cut across the fourth side, with more forest visible opposite the water. Actually, Sakura was sure that the river completely encircled the training ground; they'd had to cross the little red bridge to get in, and they'd walked through the forest to get to the field. It was like Training Ground Seven was a little island, with only one way off.

But anyway, Kakashi-sensei. He didn't _look_ like he was dying in painful agony from the power of her glare alone, but like Inner-Sakura said; they'd get him eventually. All afternoon he'd made them run laps around the training field, stopping only when they literally couldn't force themselves to run anymore. He said it was to test their stamina, or endurance or something. Sakura thought he just enjoyed watching them suffer.

Even worse, now she was all sweaty and yuck in front of Sasuke-kun! She'd been forced to stop running much sooner than the boys had, but she had enjoyed the chance to watch Sasuke-kun working out without having to hide. It was a shame he hadn't taken his shirt off like Naruto (Sakura continued to ignore Inner-Sakura's rant about ugly orange jumpsuits that hid arms and abs from the world), but since Sasuke-kun would be showering at her house shortly, she dealt with the disappointment. That thought was the only thing that kept her going when Kakashi-sensei made them do multiple reps of sit-ups, push-ups, and a heap of other exercises. Imagining Sasuke-kun staying the night in her home, even if Naruto, his neechan, and Kakashi-sensei were there too, had distracted her enough that she'd lasted longer during the reps than she usually would have. Now, at just past four in the afternoon, Sakura was exhausted and in desperate need of a shower.

"That's all for today, my cute little genin!" Kakashi-sensei announced. "We can move out as soon as Sakura-chan thinks she's ready."

Oh Kami no, please. She didn't think she could walk just yet. She considered crawling home, then decided that would make her look too undignified in front of Sasuke-kun. Ooh, maybe Sasuke-kun would be a perfect gentleman and carry her home! Sakura glanced hopefully up at him through her eyelashes. No go. He wasn't even looking at her. How disappointing.

"Ano sa, Sakura-chan? Could we get going soon? It's just, Megumi-nee's probably waiting by now, and she does weird things when she gets bored." Naruto's blue eyes gazed at her apologetically.

She hoisted a smile onto her face. We-ell, she didn't want to keep this Megumi waiting. First impressions and all. And, Sakura brightened up. The sooner she got home, the sooner she could get all this dirt and sweat off of her! And, and, and she could see after-shower Sasuke-kun!

Sakura jumped to her feet, suddenly energised by thoughts of Sasuke-kun walking around her house dripping wet, in only a towel. "We can go right now! Where's your neechan waiting, Naruto?"

"Er, well I just told her to meet us at the bridge from this morning."

Sakura nodded. Sensible, since they walked across it to get in and out of the training ground. This way, they wouldn't have to deviate from Sakura's normal routine. The new Team Seven meandered slowly back to the bridge, all but Kakashi-sensei too worn out to pick up any real speed. Even Naruto, who had far outlasted both herself and Sasuke-kun, was far too exhausted to be his normal boisterous self.

Sakura was honestly very impressed with the blond's stamina. She also thought it was cute how Sasuke-kun's last few laps had been his way of trying to keep up with Naruto, and how he'd glared every time Naruto ran past them collapsed under the tree. She could almost feel Sasuke-kun's determination to beat their blond teammate. And he absolutely would! Sakura had unwavering faith in Sasuke-kun's ability.

All of a sudden, Sakura felt Naruto perk up next to her, and he was running – where did that energy come from? – for the bridge, and the tall womanly silhouette standing there. She sighed. That baka. Wasn't he supposed to be following her?

* * *

Kakashi nearly choked when he and his less… _enthusiastic_, genin came closer to their energiser-bunny teammate. The image of Naruto holding onto a tall woman with long red hair was almost enough to make his heart give out. He could almost imagine Kushina-neesan was here to pick up her baby boy after his first day of official genin training, beaming down at him as he babbled at her about his day.

And then they reached the duo, and the fantasy faded. It shouldn't have surprised him, the sharp stab of hurt Kakashi felt when he caught a glimpse of laughing grey eyes and a pointed little nose instead of violet fire set in a round face. He couldn't shake the sense of _wrongthisiswrong, this woman was not Kushina-nee, nobody could be her, nobody else could be Naruto's mother. _None of these thoughts showed on his face.

"Kakashi-sensei! Sakura-chan! Sasuke! This," Naruto grabbed a hold of the woman's hand. "This is my neechan!"

The redhead (darker than Kushina-nee's, not burning brightly fire) laughed. "You need to work on your introductions, Naruto-kun. Hello," she smiled brightly at the jōnin and his two genin. "I'm Nakamura Megumi. It's nice to meet you."

Kakashi nodded politely, glancing at his other students from the corner of his eye. These next few days were about observation after all; now was a good time to see how they reacted to new people.

Sakura was gazing at Megumi, awe and a hint of jealousy in her eyes. It wasn't hard to guess why, Naruto's older sister figure was beautiful and graceful looking, even standing still. Kakashi thought she was probably a dancer of some sort; she wasn't a kunoichi and most civilians couldn't pull off that kind of grace (and he could see the toned muscle of her arms and legs, exposed by the knee-length white sundress she was wearing). However, the jealousy didn't keep his female student from smiling back and politely introducing herself.

Sasuke, Kakashi was amused to see, refused to look at Megumi for long, simply grunting in greeting and dropping his gaze. So the boy could be affected by the opposite sex after all. Good to know. He just hoped Sakura wouldn't notice and go into a fangirl rage.

"Er, sorry, Megumi-nee." Naruto laughed sheepishly, hand raised to the back of his head. "This is my team! That's Kakashi-sensei, Hatake Kakashi. And they're Haruno Sakura, we're going to her house, and Uchiha Sasuke." Introductions all accompanied by rude finger pointing.

They set off again, following Sakura through the bustling streets of Konoha. Kakashi was at the back of the pack, Icha Icha out and lone eye sweeping periodically over his little charges. Naruto was chattering away to Megumi, occasionally trying to draw his teammates into the discussion. Sakura was clearly exhausted however, and was focusing on finding her way home. Sasuke too, was to tired (and, Kakashi suspected, shy) to put in even his usual minimal effort social interaction.

They eventually reached a nice two-storey home on the outskirts of one of Konoha's shopping districts. Kakashi looked around as Sakura led them inside, noting the light coloured hardwood floors, white trim, and warm taupe walls. It was obviously the home of a shinobi family, with lots of space to manoeuver, comfortable yet sensible furniture that could be used for defence or offense, minimal valuables in sight and no photographs to give away any weak spots. Those would likely be in the bedrooms, or put away in albums.

He watched in amusement as his male genin had an intense glaring match to settle who would be first to use the shower – Sakura would use her parent's en suite – which became moot point when the little pinkette whacked Naruto across the head, proclaiming that "Of course Sasuke-kun can have the first shower!"

She was evidently well raised, playing the good little hostess, managing to work a tour of the house in while she was finding towels for the boys, getting tea for the adults and making sure they were comfortable before going off to have her own shower. Kakashi wasn't sure where her bipolar attitude came from, or her intense fangirling, because her house was giving off the impression of a nice, normal, well-adjusted family. Maybe it was time for a little 'underneath the underneath' investigating.

For now though, he'd been left with a not-so-hyperactive Naruto and a not-Kushina older sister. Who were both seated at Sakura's kitchen table, staring intently at each other. Kakashi, who was leaning against the kitchen bench calmly sipping his tea, had no idea what they were doing. Meh. It was none of his business anyway. He pulled out his precious Icha Icha, and settled in to read.

* * *

Much to Sakura's disappointment, she missed seeing after-shower Sasuke-kun, due to the fact that she was enjoying her own shower too much to even think about getting out early. Although… there would be no stopping her next time, shannaro! She giggled a little at the thought of seeing after-shower Sasuke-kun at his own home.

Besides, it wasn't like she completely missed out; his hair had still been wet and out of his usual style – it was all flat and hanging over his face – when she finally got back to the kitchen, and he looked so cute! Especially combined with his navy blue sweatpants and black shirt. Sakura giggled again, thinking of Sasuke-kun in his sleepwear. She herself hadn't put her pjs on – they were pink and embarrassing – but she was wearing black leggings and a cute thigh length red shirt, and hopefully Sasuke-kun would notice!

She was just waiting for Naruto to get out of the shower, and then she'd start dinner. It would've been her night to cook anyway, if her parents were home, so that worked out well. Now that training was over and she felt like a human being again, Sakura was feeling a little bit awkward. The whole 'stalking each other' exercise was making her paranoid. Naruto and Sasuke-kun would probably only find out generic things about her, but Kakashi-sensei was a _jōnin!_ Who knew what kinds of observations he would make during her twenty-four hours? Twenty-four hours was a long time in ninja time.

It was a little awkward outside her mind as well. Kakashi-sensei was leaning back against her kitchen bench, little orange book in hand and a faint blush on the visible part of his face. Sasuke-kun and Megumi were sitting at opposite ends of her six person kitchen table, one staring intently at the other while they carefully avoided looking back.

Sakura tried not to scowl at the older woman – what was she doing, staring at Sasuke-kun like that? – but she was finding it difficult. It was bad enough that Naruto's neechan was absolutely beautiful; tall and graceful, with the slim type of body that didn't make you look flat, instead emphasising your curves (Sakura prayed to Kami that her body would mature soon, Ino-pig was already beating her in that and it was unacceptable!). Megumi had lovely long dark red hair that reached her lower back, and what looked like bangs that were currently clipped back atop her head, with a milky white complexion that was similar to Sakura's own. Her slanted grey eyes were warm and inviting, dancing with mischief and good humour. If Sakura didn't know any better, she would've said that Megumi really was Naruto's big sister based off the looks in their eyes alone. Sakura thought the older woman's face was perfect, angular without being too sharp, and a perfectly proportioned forehead, unlike her own.

She self-consciously raised her hand to her hairline, making sure that her bangs and hitai-ate were in place. (She'd debated for a good ten minutes whether to wear her hitai-ate after she got out of the shower, but in the end, wearing her ninja gear in a civilian outfit wasn't weird enough to justify exposing her forehead to her team and the beautiful Megumi. Besides, she was a ninja now, wearing her hitai-ate was expected. And Sasuke-kun had put his back on too!).

But Megumi was getting more attention from Sasuke-kun in ten minutes than Sakura had gotten in all their years at the Academy together (even if that attention was him pointedly not giving her attention. It showed how very aware of the older woman the dark haired boy was).

Sakura didn't have to wait too long to find out why Megumi was staring at her future husband, because the woman chose that moment to speak up.

"You've seen me at work, haven't you?"

The question, abrupt as it was, startled Sakura and Sasuke both, and even Kakashi-sensei looked up from his book curiously. Sakura had no idea what she was talking about, but one glance at Sasuke-kun showed that he did. His pale cheeks held a faint blush, and he seemed to be gazing at the point of Megumi's nose instead of her eyes. Not that Sakura wanted him to be looking any girl's eyes but her own.

"You have, haven't you?" Megumi sounded delighted. "Awww, you're so cute! There's no need to be embarrassed! What were you doing in there anyway?"

Sakura watched Sasuke-kun's blush darken – without his permission, if the scowl on his face was any indication – and silently amazed at the power of the woman. Nobody had ever got this type of reaction from the Uchiha before. It was so CUUUUTE! He was usually so cool and handsome looking, with his stoic, serious face, but blushing, shy Sasuke-kun was just adorable!

Megumi clucked. "Just curiosity then? You probably didn't get too far, if remembering me can still make you blush." She winked.

Sakura was utterly confused. What could Sasuke-kun have seen her doing that would embarrass him just from watching? What kind of job did Naruto's neechan have, exactly?

Apparently Kakashi-sensei knew, or had an idea, because he was staring wide-eyed at the redhead. Sakura pouted a bit. She was feeling very left out.

Luckily, Naruto bounded back into her kitchen at that point, disappointingly back in his old orange jumpsuit pants and a black t-shirt. His usually wild blond spikes were even wilder from what had probably been a rough towel drying and Sakura had to stifle a laugh. He looked like a shaggy blond puppy.

"So what do we do now Sakura-chan?" He asked cheerfully.

She raised a hand to her jaw, tapping it thoughtfully. "Well, I'm going to start making dinner. You guys can sit in here and watch me, or you could go hang out in the living room until I'm done."

* * *

Sasuke was debating the merits of adding another person to his To Kill list. That Man deserved to die, for the horrendous act he had committed. But Kakashi-sensei… Well he made Sasuke do things that made him feel uncomfortable and off-balance, which in turn distracted him from thoughts of training and becoming strong enough to complete his mission.

He glanced upwards yet again at the redheaded woman chatting with Sakura and Naruto. She was seated at the opposite end of the table, with Naruto to her right and Sakura working in the kitchen at her back, though she was turned so that she could speak with both of them.

At first, Sasuke had thought he was mistaken; after all, what were the chances he'd run into one of those women outside of that place?

Still, he'd avoided looking directly at her in the hope that he wouldn't recognise her, and to avoid embarrassing himself. That had flown right out the window when she spoke before, and made him _blush. _In front of Sakura. Sasuke shuddered. He'd recognised that internally squealing face Sakura had been making.

Somehow though, Hatake knowing exactly where it was that Sasuke had seen Megumi was worse than Sakura's fangirl worship increasing. Sasuke swore he could feel the amusement emanating off of the one-eyed bastard from where he leaned against the wall behind him. It was very hard holding onto his anger and hate and focus, when all he wanted to do was sink into the ground and stay there, where nobody could see him blush. So yes, Hatake Kakashi would be added to his list, right under the name of That Man.

Honestly, Sasuke wasn't very interested in the purpose of this mission/training exercise. He had no desire to get to know his teammates better; bonds would only hold him back in his mission, and tempt him into following That Man's lead in order to gain power. No, better to remain distant.

Not like he would have had much interest even without those reasons. Sakura was an annoyance, a pink-haired, desperate, stalkerish fangirl. He'd had her figured out from the moment they were told that their female teammate would be going first. She had living shinobi parents of unknown rank, who were often out on missions if the thought of being home alone didn't faze her. Sasuke wasn't sure why she was so useless if both her parents were ninja, unless they mistakenly thought she would sort herself out. He scoffed inwardly. Yeah right. She was unused to hardship or hard work, she was a privileged, sheltered little girl who didn't belong in the shinobi life. If her biggest worry was what Sasuke thought of her, then she wasn't worth his time. She was boring and useless, and Sasuke would rather be anywhere but her house right now.

Especially when Nakamura Megumi was also in it.

Sasuke watched discretely as his blond teammate enthusiastically questioned Sakura about her parents, her home, her life. He wasn't entirely sure if Naruto was taking the stupid mission seriously, or if he was genuinely curious. Probably both, he decided. Uzumaki was an orphan also, so he had no idea what normal family life was like, even if he had picked up several siblings along the way. Sasuke privately thought that if all Naruto's neechans were like this one, he still didn't know what normal family life was like.

"Dinner's ready!" Sakura sang out, carrying a large dish out of the kitchen. She placed it carefully on the centre of the table and returned to the kitchen, presumably to get the rest of the food.

Sasuke peered subtly at the dish on the table. Huh. Chicken stir-fry. He'd half expected the girl would make them all eat lettuce. Kami knew that was all she appeared to eat.

Tch. Why was she even a kunoichi again?

* * *

Sakura held back a sigh of relief as Naruto finally sat back, patting his stomach in satisfaction. She had made extra food of course, with four guests in the house, but she hadn't made that much, and Naruto had demolished most of it. How embarrassing would it have been if she couldn't keep her guests satisfied?

Then again… Green eyes narrowed at the laughing blond. How was she supposed to have known that Naruto ate like he was never going to eat again? With the way he ate, Sakura was surprised he was able to bounce everywhere the way he did, instead of rolling. Maybe he'd just been extra hungry tonight because of the exercise they'd done that afternoon? Kami only knew Sakura had eaten more than she'd intended to. That would have to change; now that she knew how hungry being active made her, she'd be able to control herself.

She cast her eyes over the other people sitting at the table, pleased to see that they all looked to have enjoyed her cooking. Kakashi-sensei had finished eating first, clearing his plate and pulling his mask back into place before Sakura could get a good look at his face. Disappointing, but there would be other chances.

Megumi… Now she had been a surprise. Her body was so beautifully slender, Sakura had been certain the older woman kept to a strict diet; not so. Her first helping had been piled high with stir-fry and mashed potato, while her second helping had been more normal sized. That had done nothing to help Sakura's envy of Naruto's neechan. How could she be so slim and perfect when she ate like that?! Today must be her cheat day, Sakura decided. There was no way she could maintain that figure if she was constantly eating such large portions.

And of course, Sasuke-kun. She'd been nearly trembling with anticipation when the raven haired boy took his first mouthful; what if he hated it? What if he decided she wouldn't make a good wife because he didn't like her cooking? The thought nearly made her pass out. But, he had no visible reaction. He'd simply chewed and swallowed, systematically clearing his plate. Sakura chose to take that as a good sign. Inner-Sakura was cheering right throughout dinner, helped along by the sidelong glances that Sakura sent Sasuke's way every few seconds, entranced by her love eating the food she'd prepared for him. Such a satisfying feeling.

Now that dinner was over, Sakura could feel the awkwardness coming back. Her team was here to see how she lived and stuff like that, so what did she usually do after dinner? Whoever cooked didn't have to do the dishes, but she couldn't make her guests do it. Hm… What could the others do while she was doing domestic things?

"Ano, Kakashi-sensei?" Sooo embarrassing, having to ask.

He blinked his one eye at her lazily. "What is it, Sakura-chan?"

She fidgeted shyly in her chair, twirling a lock of pink hair around her finger. "Well, I was just wondering what you guys wanted to do now. I need to do that dishes, and I don't want you to be bored." Sakura gazed earnestly at the jōnin, who smiled a little behind his mask. She was just too cute.

"Hmm…" He hummed thoughtfully. "I know! Naruto-kun! Sasuke-kun!"

The two boys looked up from their conversation/intense brooding.

Kakashi continued cheerily. "You two are going to help Sakura-chan with the dishes, okay? Megumi-san and I will, ah, supervise." He eye-smiled at them as Megumi giggled.

Sakura cheered a little internally. She really hated doing the dishes alone, it was so boring! And it wasn't rude this way, because she hadn't asked her guests to help with the housework, their jōnin-sensei had ordered them! Loopholes were beautiful things.

The genin quickly worked out a system to get the job done, with Sakura washing, Naruto drying, and Sasuke-kun putting away. Sakura couldn't deny feeling a warm glow in her chest, seeing the three of them working together (and she was indirectly working with Sasuke-kun!), even if it was something as small as doing the dishes. She'd feared that their earlier D-rank had set the standard for all Team Seven's interactions, but that clearly wasn't the case.

Okay, maybe she was exaggerating, but the grocery shopping had been a little more stressful than she'd expected. Firstly, getting the list from the client had been a mission in itself (she'd really seemed to have a grudge against Naruto. Sakura assumed the blond had previously targeted her with a prank or something). Secondly, the list asked for some really specific items, which neither Naruto nor Sasuke-kun seemed to have the patience to find, leaving Sakura to do it as they otherwise would have just grabbed something that was 'close enough'. And thirdly, the two boys seemed to feel the need to turn everything into a competition between them. It was kind of cute, but mostly it was annoying, because then Sasuke-kun got mad and that was bad, and the whole thing just made everything more difficult. Sakura also couldn't deny that their little rivalry made her feel a little left out; bad enough that Sasuke-kun paid more attention to the dobe (she internally apologised to the blond) than to her, but Naruto was always so friendly to everybody and even he paid her no attention when he was caught up with Sasuke-kun! So it was nice to know that they could all work together like this.

When they'd finished, Sakura lead them all into her living room and switched the TV on. At Naruto's excited inquiries and Kakashi-sensei's raised eyebrow, she shrugged. "Usually after dinner I go outside and practice throwing kunai and shuriken with Tousan, and when he's not here I relax and read or talk with Kaasan. When neither of them are here, I either do my homework, relax and watch movies, or go next door and visit Rina-san. She's a nurse at the hospital, she used to babysit me when I was little." Sakura admitted bashfully. She quickly changed the subject away from her sitter with the embarrassing baby stories, in case anybody got any ideas of visiting. "So what are we going to watch?"

They eventually settled on an animated kid's movie, appropriately funny for Naruto and cute for the two girls; Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke-kun didn't have a preference. At first Sakura had been wary of watching such a movie in front of Sasuke-kun – what if he found her childish? But in the end she'd been won over by Naruto and Megumi's infectious enthusiasm.

Sakura settled giddily back into the sofa, comfortably in between Sasuke-kun and Naruto, where Kakashi-sensei had directed them. She subtly shifted closer to her dark-haired teammate, close enough that she could smell the familiar soap scent on him. Sakura slowly drifted off, breathing in the scent of home, and feeling inexplicably safe sandwiched between her two teammates.

* * *

When Naruto woke up the next morning, it was to find himself squashed back in the corner of the sofa, with a peacefully sleeping pinkette resting her head on his calves. He gulped.

Carefully raising his head, Naruto saw that Sasuke was mirroring his position, curled up in the opposite sofa corner, and Sakura-chan was curled up between them, entwined with their legs. Oh god. Oh god oh god oh god oh god oh god. What if she woke up? What if Sasuke woke up? Oh hell, what if Megumi-nee saw?

Speaking of, where was Megumi-nee? And Kakashi-sensei? Why hadn't those traitors woken them up last night so that they wouldn't end up in an awkward situation _exactly like this one?!_

Fuck. Naruto lay there, panicking silently for a few minutes, before deciding to just risk the wrath of Haruno Sakura, and quickly slid a cushion under her head whilst simultaneously reclaiming his leg. He breathed a sigh of relief when the movement didn't wake either of the others. Quietly, the blond boy tiptoed his way through the doorway to the dining room/kitchen, thinking maybe he could cook up one of the ramen cups he'd stashed there last night (heh, who said he couldn't be stealthy?), freezing when he saw his sister and his sensei both sitting at the table, staring at him with identical raised eyebrows.

Well shit. Guess they'd already been snapped.

"Uh, g'morning sensei, neechan." Naruto said awkwardly, shuffling past them to get to his precious ramen.

Megumi giggled. "Did you have a good sleep, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto groaned, face-palming. He turned to face the adults, ramen cup in hand and a pained expression on his face. "Er, I don't suppose you're just asking out of general politeness are you?"

His evil, sadistic sister smirked back at him. "You're shit outta luck, otōto. I'm asking, because you three cuties looked mighty comfortable from where I was standing."

Naruto drooped as Kakashi snorted lightly. Of course they'd seen. How could they have missed the puppy pile of genin all twisted around each other on Sakura-chan's sofa? Hopefully neither of them had taken pictures – but with his luck, that was more of a desperate prayer than a hope.

He was about to reply to Megumi's question when another though struck him. "Hey, d'ya reckon I should wake the teme up before Sakura-chan realises where she's sleeping? He's defenceless in there right now." Who knew what she would do if she woke up all cuddled up with the object of her, ahem, _affection?_

If she'd woken up with Naruto, she would have screamed his ears off and probably whacked him one. He winced at the thought. Jeez, anybody who made the mistake of thinking she looked like a sweet and delicate little thing would get the surprise of their life when she suddenly went BAM! And knocked their block off. Naruto cackled at the picture that thought had spawned.

Sweet Kami, Team Seven would be the strongest genin team in Konoha, no, ALL of the shinobi villages, once they got a little training in. They had Uchiha Sasuke, bastard extraordinaire and Rookie of the Year (that title had to count for something, right?), Haruno Sakura, the deceptively physical powerhouse, and Uzumaki Naruto, who was made of pure awesomeness! Team Seven would be kickass! Even if they did have a lazy perv of a sensei.

Naruto, being the nice person that he was, tiptoed back into the living room (after he put the hot water in his ramen of course; the teme wasn't important enough to rank above ramen) and silently made his way over to the sleeping Uchiha. Glancing nervously at the sleeping kunoichi, Naruto decided against anything that would jar Sasuke awake and also wake Sakura-chan.

He poked the other boy's arm, causing a small frown to flicker across the pale visage.

A wicked smile danced across the whiskered face. If only he had a camera… Sleeping Sasuke was so cute; perfect blackmail material. What would his fangirls do for a picture of their darling in their most vulnerable state? What would _Sasuke _do to ensure they never got it? Naruto sighed regretfully, internally promising himself that next time he wouldn't let the opportunity go to waste, and jabbed Sasuke's shoulder – hard.

Dark eyes flew wide open and Naruto hurriedly placed a finger against Sasuke's mouth. He slid his eyes sideways to where Sakura-chan was still peacefully sleeping, legs entangled with the Uchiha's. Black orbs followed azure ones, and widened dramatically. Naruto was pissing himself laughing inside his head at the horrified look on that pale face.

It wasn't so bad for him, he was just embarrassed that his sister and sensei had seen him snuggling with his team like a frickin' puppy. But Sasuke… Naruto once again had to hold in a laugh. Uchiha Sasuke was a loner emo bastard, and he'd spent the night cuddled up with one of his biggest fans. It was pure gold.

He let his mouth widen in a smirk, and removed his finger from Sasuke's mouth – which immediately twisted into a scowl. Heh. Typical.

"Did you need some help there, Sasuke-kun?" Naruto asked innocently. He gleefully noted the humiliated fury burning in the older boy's eyes. Good. Get him off of that high horse for a little bit.

"Dobe. Get her off of me." Naruto was honestly very impressed with the amount of fury and menace that the dark haired genin managed to fit into that one tiny whisper. That he simultaneously fit a little pleading in there too was just amazing.

He considered leaving Sasuke there; he'd done his part, warned Sasuke of his predicament and now he could deal with it himself. But the open plea on Sasuke's face did away with that thought. If the Uchiha was lowering himself enough to basically ask for help (Naruto would work on getting him to actually ask later) then he should get a reward.

Naruto held up a hand, silently asking Sasuke to hold still and be quiet. He zeroed in on the tangle of limbs that were Sasuke and Sakura's legs, trying to figure out how to sort it out without waking Sakura-chan. He felt mischief tugging at him as he remembered doing something similar with his brats.

Carefully stretching a hand towards Sakura-chan's exposed feet, ignoring Sasuke's frantic 'what the fuck are you doing' face, he lightly traced the tip of his fingernail over the arch of one pale foot. It twitched. He did it again. The kunoichi muttered and drew her legs up higher towards herself. Eyeing her closely to make sure she wasn't waking up, Naruto did it one more time. The pink haired girl made an annoyed huffing noise and curled right up, untangling her legs from Sasuke's and leaving the Uchiha free to escape.

Naruto grinned triumphantly and stuck his tongue out at the hilariously relieved boy. He got a dark glare in return, like that would phase him. Huh. Yeah right. Naruto just rolled his eyes and made his way back into the kitchen, where his ramen was calling to him. Hell yeah, right on three minutes, dattebayo!

It wasn't until Sakura-chan had woken up about an hour later (Naruto buried his face in his arms to hide his laughter when Sasuke shifted away from the obliviously confused girl) that he thought to ask; "Ano sa, Kakashi-sensei? When are we gonna go do missions or training, or something?"

Sakura-chan and Sasuke, who were sitting on either side of him at the table, also waited expectantly for the answer.

The one-eyed jōnin looked up from his conversation with Megumi-nee (and Naruto would totally kick his ass if he started getting any ideas about his neechan!).

"Hmm, well as it's about eight now, I guess you three can go wait for me at the bridge while I walk Megumi-san home."

Megumi grinned when Naruto pointed a finger at his sensei. "Don't go getting any ideas, Ero-sensei!" Kakashi gaped as the blond turned to Megumi. "And no flirting, neechan! Punch him in the balls if he tries it on." With that said, Naruto nodded decisively, grabbed his gear that was waiting at his feet, and strolled casually out the door.

The rest of Team Seven gaped while Megumi amusedly shook her head. "Alright then, Naruto-kun. You two," she added to the stunned genin. "Had better go catch up with him before he gets too far. I'll see you tonight!" She smiled brightly.

They did as she said, waving goodbye to the redheaded woman as they left. As it turned out, Naruto had only wandered a few metres, apparently waiting for his team to catch up. The three of them slowly meandered their way through the village to the little red bridge in silence. Until Naruto broke it.

"Ano sa, Sakura-chan?"

"Yes?"

"It's still your twenty-four hours, right?"

"Yep. Yours will start at about twelve this afternoon."

"So that means we're still supposed to be observing you?"

"Ano… I guess so."

Naruto grinned. "You should take the lead on our mission then! So that me and the teme can observe your leadership and all that stuff!"

He watched her pale green eyes widen with shock and uncertainty. She nervously bit her lip and glanced up at the bastard through her eyelashes.

Naruto hmed internally. If they were gonna be a kickass team, Sakura-chan would have to be broken of her Sasuke-hero-worship. And he would have to be the one to do it, because, well the other two were clearly going to be no help. So that was one more thing to add to the list (which currently only consisted of 'teach Sasuke to not be an asshole').

He – discretely – elbowed the taller boy in the side when he didn't say anything in reply to Sakura-chan's questioning look.

Sasuke let out a grunt, which Naruto took to mean 'don't fucking touch me you loser' but Sakura-chan took as approval of Naruto's suggestion. Man, for someone who claimed to be in love with the bastard, she really didn't understand him at all.

Naruto smiled encouragingly at the pink haired girl, who smiled nervously back. He knew she had it in her to be a great kunoichi. He knew from her determination not to give up on Sasuke, her strength and cleverness in getting through the Academy, her growth after Ino showed her how to stand up for herself… Naruto had learned a lot about his kunoichi teammate the night before. He'd asked her a lot of questions, out of honest curiosity, which she'd been happy to answer. Naruto may not know everything about her, but he did know that Haruno Sakura had a lot of potential.

And Uzumaki Naruto would help her to reach it – that was a promise, dattebayo!

* * *

Sakura couldn't help but let a wide, proud smile cross her face as she surveyed Team Seven's hard work. Naruto had relayed their plan to Kakashi-sensei when the lazy cyclops finally reappeared _(three hours later!) _and he'd been more than happy to let Sakura take charge.

She'd been so nervous at first; neither Naruto nor Sasuke-kun were easy people to direct. But Naruto had been friendly and supportive, easily accepting her orders and encouraging her when she was unsure. What Sakura had really been nervous about was directing Sasuke-kun. What if he ignored her? What if he thought she was being bossy? What if he resented her for being the first to try being in charge?

Thankfully, her fears were unfounded. The raven haired boy had been his usual stoic, silent self. Kakashi-sensei had been as completely unhelpful as the previous day, standing by, reading his little orange book under the guise of 'supervising'.

Their second D-Rank mission had been to split logs (which, as an always available commodity in Hi no Kuni, had already been prepared and ready) and deliver them to one of the old folks homes in Konoha for use as firewood. They were to fill up the garden shed out the back that was used for exactly this purpose, and also fill the baskets placed by every fireplace inside the home.

Sakura had decided to have Sasuke-kun do the actual log splitting; she thought the boys had about equal upper arm strength, but Naruto had more stamina, and so would be the better choice to have running back and forth, ferrying the split logs from Sasuke to Sakura. She herself organised the split logs inside the shed from the pile Naruto had dumped them in, and also filled the baskets inside.

All helped along with copious use of Naruto's kage bunshin of course. And now the woodshed was full, stacks of logs neatly organised and in place. All because of the efforts of Team Seven.

Once she'd gotten into the swing of things, it'd been quite enjoyable being in charge of the boys. It was easier once she no longer had Sasuke-kun in her sight; it was a shame that she couldn't watch him swing that axe (even the thought made her drool) but the knowing looks that Naruto kept giving her made her blush so badly, and made her want to prove to him, to both of them really, that she could do this. So she'd separated herself from Sasuke-kun.

And to be completely honest, the proud smile that she received from the blond boy had more than made up for not being able to watch Sasuke-kun. Now that they were on a team together, she had plenty of time to see the dark haired Uchiha (SHANNARO!). But to be acknowledged, for someone who wasn't her parents or her sensei to be proud of her…

Sakura felt her insides warm pleasantly, and absently wondered if she was glowing on the outside as well. She didn't really have any real friends; Ino had been her only one, and even now that they were rivals, the Yamanaka still held a lot of Sakura's attention at the Academy. So even while Uzumaki Naruto was a loud, semi-annoying little shit, he was friendly and genuine and completely real. Sakura basked in his quiet but sincere pride. It was a good feeling.

Suddenly she was looking forward to a whole twenty-four hours dedicated to getting to know Naruto better. Sakura had a feeling it would be a day full of revelations.

* * *

**AN: I hope that wasn't too boring for you guys. Sakura is the most normal in Team Seven, and even though this is AU, it didn't feel right putting any dramatic revelations or anything in there. Sakura is still Sakura, just a little... different. :) Hopefully you won't have to wait as long for the next chapter. **


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